Hot Tub Forum

General => General info Somewhat hot tub related => Topic started by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 02, 2006, 02:05:06 pm

Title: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 02, 2006, 02:05:06 pm
Seriously folks, I really get these............ with some frequency.
So, how would you respond, remembering you have limited funds in your legal defence fund.

---------------

I am very impressed with the knowledge and support I received from this company.  They spent over 1/2 hour helping me with my old spa and I had not made any purchases from their company.  I am looking to purchase another spa and was considering Hxxxn Spas.  Their website has a lot of information, the owner is an engineer as I recall and has worked for other spa companies before designing his own spas.  I would be interested in your evaluation of this company's products.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: cooltoy2000 on October 02, 2006, 02:30:46 pm
Your e-mail should say - "My mother taught me that if you can not say anything good, don't say anything period"
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Chris_H on October 02, 2006, 02:33:57 pm
Doc,
You should tell them to visit this site, as well as, poolsearch.com and ask the same question here.  We will give them the appropriate response.
Chris
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 02, 2006, 03:21:10 pm
poolsearch is in fact my general recommendation.

Quote
Doc,
You should tell them to visit this site, as well as, poolsearch.com and ask the same question here.  We will give them the appropriate response.
Chris
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Vinny on October 02, 2006, 03:49:41 pm
I would reply that you can not give any information on any particular spa (remembering that this could be a potenital customer for you or a setup). I agree that the best thing may be to suggest that the e-mailer search the internet for those spas their interested in and get their own info along with suggesting visiting a few boards. I wouldn't tell them which one(s) as you don't want any fingers pointing toward you.

Stay as neutral as can be. If someone is e-mailing you they do have the potential to research it themself!
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 02, 2006, 04:02:14 pm
Research is what get's them to me in the first place........... Ya see............ ummmmmmmmm, I kinda have this other web site I've been "tinkering" with, on and off, in my spare time (which has been non-existant for quite a while) for the last few years. At the rate I'm going with it, 5 more years and it might be presentable to the public  ;D ... problem is, Google doesn't think the same way, and has it listed #1 for, spa ratings, spa buying guide and spa buyers guide.....and in the top 3 for most of the other terms I targeted. So.........as they say, I built it, well, started building it, and they come...So, I get stuck with these emails :o . Oddly, this is the most common "subject"...

hmmmmmmmm, maybe I jump start the whoring of myself and sell the guy advertising on the site  :-/
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Chris_H on October 02, 2006, 04:19:52 pm
I would have a professional develop your rhtubs.com site and make it into a message board and review site with paid advertising.  You could also have biased ratings area with which you can collect $25K for the right to be 5 Diamond recommended because stars are unfashionable.  Diamonds are the way to go.

Then create www.robertshottubs.com for the rest of the stuff you do.  I am serious.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: In Canada eh on October 02, 2006, 05:21:01 pm
Quote
hmmmmmmmm, maybe I jump start the whoring of myself and sell the guy advertising on the site  :-/





NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't do it Doc, don't sell out ;D
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 02, 2006, 05:30:19 pm
There's a part of me, small as it may be, that has already thought of something along that idea.  ;D  ;D Problem is, I don't think I could live with my self if I did. Although................ $500k a year for a bogis rating system??? Maybe I could buy some piece of mind  :P


Quote
I would have a professional develop your rhtubs.com site and make it into a message board and review site with paid advertising.  You could also have biased ratings area with which you can collect $25K for the right to be 5 Diamond recommended because stars are unfashionable.  Diamonds are the way to go.

Then create www.robertshottubs.com for the rest of the stuff you do.  I am serious.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Vinny on October 02, 2006, 09:26:46 pm
I have to say anyone who would buy a spa on the internet to the tune of $13,000 (I really can't believe he charges that much) deserves what they get!

I think PT Barnum said 'there's a sucker born every minute'.

I thought the e-mail was through rhtubs. I don't have any suggestions, sorry!

So you built a monster and now WE have to deal with it ...  ;) ;D

Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: geekd on October 02, 2006, 10:51:07 pm
You're the rhtubs.com guy?

Your site has some great info, but, ummm, it's not the prettiest or easiest to use site out there.

I say do this:  Sign up for google ads.  It's easy and free.  Put the google ads on each page (they have text only ads that are not very intrusive).  then take the money you make off that to hire a good web designer.

It sounds like you already have the traffic and reputation.  And you DO have excellent content.  A decent design and you could have a great site.

-geekd
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 03, 2006, 12:55:09 am
Ya know, it's kind of funny, I get emails slamming me for how dificult it is to navigate the site, and I get email praising me for how easy it is to navigate the site. Oddly, I get much more email of praise than slamming, and since people tend to complain more when they're unhappy, as opposed to giving praise.............well, I'm a firm beliver in you can't please everyone  :D

The site's over 1200 pages, 8 years of work, and there's no way in "heck" I'm paying a designer to redesign the whole thing. On top of which, it does spectacularly well in the search engines. All a designer would do is screw that up, and cause me to have to lay off 50 or so employees. Nope, no chance that'll happen. Love it or hate, it feeds the families of over 100 people.

Google ads........... Well? 1 they don't tell you anything about how much they'll pay you. It's kind of a "good faith thing"........... "We're Google, the god of the internet, trust us, we'll pay you something"  ;D " And ahhhh........ I played with their ad words a few years ago when they first came out...... I kinda got myself banned  ::) ........ But hey! There's still Yahoo ads  ;D ........ Seriously, there's a lot better paying advertisers out there, I just haven't had the time to sign up and put them on the site............ Got a few though.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: anne on October 03, 2006, 02:04:07 am
I'd be one of those to say that I love the info on your site but I find it frustrating to navigate. No criticism intended, just feedback.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: wmccall on October 03, 2006, 07:05:17 am
Did you check the IP of this email message? Sounds like a trap to me.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 03, 2006, 10:20:18 am
I didn't bother to trace back the email, wasn't worth the time.

With regards to navigation... What's the problem? I mean, what's the difficulty? What can't you find? Gimmie some suggestions.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: anne on October 03, 2006, 11:07:48 am
Lemme go surfing a bit when i have time later, and I'll report back. Probably better if I talk in specifics. Not a huge complaint, mind you, but I bookmarked a couple pages cuz I had trouble finding them repeatedly. Now I just go to my bookmarks, so I have to remember what was up before that.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 03, 2006, 11:13:52 am
There is a new nav menu I've been working on. The thing's a nightmare to write, but I'll try to get an example up a little later today and ask ya to take a look.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 03, 2006, 11:20:46 am
No where near done, but you'll get the basic idea (I think only the left 3 links are complete).

http://www.rhtubs.com/_navmenu-test.htm
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 04, 2006, 01:57:58 pm
WAZ UP??? Flame and run? No more comments?

Ok, so I finished something that might help. Try this;

http://www.rhtubs.com/BROMINE.htm

It acts a little differently in IE vs mozilla
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Chas on October 04, 2006, 04:33:55 pm
Quote
With regards to navigation... What's the problem? I mean, what's the difficulty? What can't you find? Gimmie some suggestions.
First - Have Chris Ogden do your graphics. I bet if you gave him full credit he would do it for free.
Next - Fix that one stupid link on your "Misc" page which only highlights "&A message Board" but leaves the Q dark. Really bugs me.
Other than that - it's fine.
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 04, 2006, 06:32:30 pm
Quote
Quote
With regards to navigation... What's the problem? I mean, what's the difficulty? What can't you find? Gimmie some suggestions.
First - Have Chris Ogden do your graphics. I bet if you gave him full credit he would do it for free.
Next - Fix that one stupid link on your "Misc" page which only highlights "&A message Board" but leaves the Q dark. Really bugs me.
Other than that - it's fine.

Chris just made ME responsible for the entire spawars mess........ I aint'a giving him the chance to make me me further responsible  ;D

The problematic "Q". I know, the deal is, the Q links to an entry page for the message board, while the rest of the link links directly, more conviently, directly to the message board.

Wait, I got an idea. I think I can "fix" fix it.

thanks
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Gomboman on October 04, 2006, 10:30:54 pm
Doc, I love your site. My only issue is that the forum is a little harder to navigate through compared to other sites. Is it possible to usa an interface similar to what we have on this site? Just my two cents.  :)
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: Dr. Spa™ Ret. on October 05, 2006, 12:18:00 am
Actually, you can set your preferences on it to act EXACTLY like this site.

I haven't played with it enough to know for sure, but I think you want the following three settings;

First click on Set Preferences towards the top of the main page.

Then set List Style to "Compressed List", Display Style to "Guestbook" and Sort Order to "UBB"......... Display Style may need to be "Single Message".......... I'm not sure on that one

Quote
Doc, I love your site. My only issue is that the forum is a little harder to navigate through compared to other sites. Is it possible to usa an interface similar to what we have on this site? Just my two cents.  :)
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: anne on October 05, 2006, 01:16:27 am
I WILL reply look at the site again soon, as I said, but my choice right now is a 15 minute  soak before bed or sitting in front of the computer.....sorry, you lose.....I'll do it as soon as I can....going to Disneyland tomorrow night after work...   busy,busy,busy (anyone recognize that?)
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: geekd on October 07, 2006, 04:02:22 pm
OK, there's a great example of my only real beef about your site.

You gave the link to the  article about bromine.  Great article, and I've read your chlorine one too, becasue it was linked to on this board.

BUT

If I came to your front page, looking for these articles, where would I go to find them?  I can't seem to navigate to them.

Thanks,
geekd
Title: Re: How would you respond to this email..........
Post by: wmccall on October 07, 2006, 04:17:41 pm
As it has strayed away from the orginal topic, I am locking this thread.  I hope there is no offense to the original poster and the helpful users who have responded.